Show Me Your Teeth - Deer or Rabbit Damage

Before pointing an accusing finger at thieves that have ravished your flower or vegetable garden, first ask to see their teeth. Rabbits have a full set of choppers that make a clean, sharp, angled cut on leaves and stems. Deer lack upper incisors and therefore tear at their food, leaving ragged edges. Plus, rabbits usually eat all, or most of the leaves, while deer are ‘messy’ eaters, ripping at foliage and leaving some ‘on their plate’.

Photo credit: iStock

Other incriminating evidence is the calling card that they leave behind, their droppings or better said, scat. Rabbits produce teeny brown, pea-like poo. Deer scat can look pretty similar although it tends to be darker and more oval in shape, and left in little piles. I bet you never thought a lot about this before. Rabbits like to target new, tender growth while deer are much less picky.

Photo credit: iStock

Save yourself all of the above detective work by eliminating ALL foraging in your gardens by using the number one organic animal repellent used by professionals growers and landscapers. Plantskydd was initially developed in Sweden in 1991 and has been getting a lot of recent attention here in the U.S.A. It works by emitting an odor that animals associate with predator activity. Research has proven that odor-based repellents are more effective than other repellent systems; where the animal needs to taste treated plants before being repelled. Animals avoid plants before they bite—not after! Its long-term effectiveness is attributable to the tenacity of its 100% natural, vegetable oil binder in sticking to plants — even under severe snow/rainfall conditions: up to 6 months over winter, 3-4 months in summer. And a bonus? The repellent is also acts as a fertilizer!

To learn more about Plantskyyd’s premier liquid and granular products and their use in the landscape, visit plantskydd.com.

Kerry Mendez is the author of best-selling book, "The Right-Size Flower
Garden" for sale at pyours.com as well as Amazon.

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